Method and apparatus for communication

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for communication. In the present application, information to be encoded or decoded is segmented into N segments according to N-1 first ratios, thus the embodiments are applicable to any polar code construction that is based on a reliability sequence and CRC insertion positions are more flexible. In addition, since optimization for the N-1 first ratios requires only a small number of parameters (such as code length, information length, reliability sequence, and number of segments), the embodiments are easy to be implemented.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATIONTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications technologies, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for communication.BACKGROUND

[0002] Channel coding techniques are fundamental to modern communication systems, playing a pivotal role in enhancing bandwidth spectral efficiency and ensuring a robustness of information transmission. As a demand for faster and more reliable communication escalates, especially with an advent of new wireless technologies, an importance of efficient coding techniques has grown exponentially. In this context, polar codes have emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation wireless standards and have already made their mark in the fifth generation (5G) standard. Innovations behind polar codes lie in their ability to achieve a channel capacity with low encoding and decoding complexities, making them suitable for high-performance communication systems.

[0003] In original work of E. Arikan, a successive-cancellation (SC) algorithm was proposed for decoding of polar codes that are sequential in nature. Bits are decoded sequentially, with only one bit being decoded at a time. The sequential execution of the SC algorithm leads to a significant delay in decoding, as well as to a propagation of errors, since when an incorrect decision is made regarding an information bit, this error will affect decoding of all subsequent bits. The SC algorithm may be viewed as a depth-first binary tree search with preference to a left branch. A SC decoder may be described by the following recursive algorithm. When a local decoder v which is an internal (non-leaf) decoder is activated, it calculates avviaaVl[i] = aVl[2 L] EE aVl[2i + 1] for i = 0, — 1, and passes aVlto vt. The local decoder v then waits until it receives codeword / 3Vrfrom vr. The local decoder v then calculates fvviafv[2i + 1] =Vr[i] and fv[2i] = / 3Vl[i] ® / 3Vr[i],and passes to pv. A schematic representation of the decoding process above is presented in Figure 1. Soft information is passed from a root to leaves, traversing a tree from left-to-right nodes. A drawback of the SC algorithm is a necessity of making an unambiguous decision about an unfrozen bit (namely information bit). A decision for an unfrozen bit may be wrong, which will lead to a further error propagation, that is, incorrect decoding of remaining part of a word. The SC decoding method offers a simple and elegant approach to decode transmitted information. However, it is often limited by its error correction performance, particularly under challenging channel conditions. As a result, a successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding method was developed by I. Tai and A. Vardy to enhance error correction capabilities of polar codes.

[0004] A successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding method was proposed in order to overcome the drawback of deciding about unfrozen bits in the SC algorithm. In the SCL decoding method, instead of an unambiguous decision, a decoding path is split, that is, along one path, a decision is made in favor of 0, and on the other path in favor of 1. Thus, the decoder considers both variants. The SCL decoding method works by maintaining a list of potential codeword candidates, thereby improving a likelihood of accurately recovering the transmitted information. While the SCL decoding method significantly increases performance, it also comes with a notable trade-off: a higher computational complexity and an increased delay, which can be detrimental in real-time communication scenarios where low latency is crucial. In 2012, K. Niu et al. proposed a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) aided (CA) successive cancellation list (CA-SCL) decoding method.

[0005] By combining a SCL decoder and a CRC detector, the CA-SCL decoding method can obtain a lower bit error rate. The CA-SCL decoding method concatenates a CRC to a polar code as an outer code, so that a portion of information bits is utilized for carrying CRC bits. More specifically, (k - r) information bits are first encoded using a CRC code, which appends an r-bit CRC to the (k - r) information bits. This CRC code can simply be a small random systematic linear block code. The resulting CRC encoded bits are then passed to an inner polar code. At a CA-SCL decoder, all candidate paths that do not satisfy the CRC are pruned during the last stage of a classic SCL decoding process, before a candidate having the lowest metric is selected as the most likely decoding path. The CA-SCL decoding method still suffers from its own disadvantage. The CA-SCL decoding method improved a performance of polar codes while retaining a complexity of aclassic SCL decoder. Another problem is weak path management. Incorrect paths may be disregarded only at the last step of the classic SCL decoding process. Possible method to reduce the decoding complexity and improve the decoding performance is to use segmented CRC.

[0006] Segmented CA-SCL decoding method divides whole message bits vector into several segments and attaches CRC bits to each segment. The segmented CRC is depicted in Figure 2. This modification allows for preliminary stopping of the decoding and intermediate CRC checks, which allows for paths quality improvement.

[0007] Proper segmentation is beneficial to the decoding performance of a segmented CA-SCL decoder. Therefore, an effective segmentation scheme is urgently needed.SUMMARY

[0008] Embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for communication, which can provide an effective segmentation scheme, thus improving the performance of polar codes.

[0009] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for communication, and the method could be performed by a first communication device which is a device at encoding side. For example, the first communication device may be an encoding device, a module in the encoding device, or a logical node, a logic module, or software that implements all or part of functions of the encoding device. The module in the encoding device can be, for example, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system (such as a modem chip (also known as a baseband chip), a system on chip (SoC) chip containing a modem core or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core, etc.). The encoding device can be a terminal device or a network device.

[0010] The method includes: obtaining first information to be encoded; obtaining N-l first ratios, where a sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1; segmenting the first information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, where N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the first information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios; adding CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively to obtain second information; encoding the second information using a polar code; and outputting the encoded second information.

[0011] According to the method above, the first communication device can segment the first information to be encoded into N segments according to N-l first ratios, thus the method is applicable to any polar code construction that is based on a reliability sequence and CRC insertion positions are more flexible. In addition, since the optimization for the N-l first ratios requires only a small number of parameters (such as code length, information length, reliability sequence, and number of segments), the method is easy to be implemented.

[0012] With reference to the first aspect, in an embodiment, adding the CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively includes: adding the CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively based on the N-l first ratios, where a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of added CRC bits is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

[0013] According to the embodiment above, the number of CRC bits can be allocated appropriately.

[0014] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, obtaining the N-l first ratios includes: obtaining H second ratios, where H*H=N; obtaining N first ratios based on the H second ratios, where the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

[0015] According to the embodiment above, positions of an increased number of segmented CRCs may be derived from a small number of ratios, so that the flexibility of segmentation is improved.

[0016] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

[0017] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, the N-l first ratios are arranged in ascending order, the last first ratio in the N-l first ratios is less than or equal to a third ratio, and the third ratio is a ratio of a length of the last segment in the N segments to the length of the first information. In other words, the N first ratios are arranged in ascending order. This improves the reliability of CRC.

[0018] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, the N- 1 first ratios are related to a code rate.

[0019] According to the embodiment above, when a code rate is given, the first communicationdevice can obtain the corresponding N-l first ratios which are more appropriate for the code rate.

[0020] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, a fourth ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the first information increases as the code rate decreases. This improves the reliability of CRC.

[0021] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, a relationship between the fourth ratio and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;where R is the code rate, kl is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the first information.

[0022] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length. Simulation results show that better performance can be obtained according to this embodiment.

[0023] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in the following table, where a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference:code rate1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 / 6 code length64 0.8-1 0.7-1 0.8-1 0.9-1 -128 0.34-0.93 0.29-0.57 0.25-0.51 0.51-0.58 0.66-0.68256 0.16-0.51 0.13-0.45 0.14-0.41 0.16-0.42 0.25-0.46512 0.1-0.39 0.09-0.37 0.09-0.35 0.09-0.36 0.11-0.381024 0.07-0.34 0.07-0.33 0.06-0.32 0.07-0.33 0.08-0.34

[0024]

[0025] Simulation results show that better performance can be obtained according to the embodiment above.

[0026] With reference to the first aspect, in another embodiment, CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, where i=l, ... , N-l, and w is a positive integer; or CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i, where i=l, ..., N-l. In other words, CRC bits for one segment may be computed based on a current segment and one or more previous segments or based on only the current segment.

[0027] Simulation results show that better frame error rate (FER) performance can be obtained according to the embodiment above. And the implementation of CRC depending on current segment and one or more previous segments allows for FER performance improvement without degrading false alarm rate (FAR) performance.

[0028] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for communication, and the method could be performed by a second communication device which is a device at decoding side. For example, the second communication device may be a decoding device, a module in the decoding device, or a logical node, a logic module, or software that implements all or part of functions of the decoding device. The module in the decoding device can be, for example, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system (such as a modem chip, a SoC chip containing a modem core or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.). The decoding device can be a terminal device or a network device.

[0029] The method includes: obtaining information to be decoded; obtaining N-l first ratios, where a sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1; segmenting the information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, where N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios; and performing a CRC operation after decoding each of the N segments using a polar code.

[0030] According to the method above, the second communication device can segment the information to be decoded into N segments according to N-l first ratios, thus the method is applicable to any polar code construction that is based on a reliability sequence and CRC insertionpositions are more flexible. In addition, since the optimization for the N-l first ratios requires only a small number of parameters (such as code length, information length, reliability sequence, and number of segments), the method is easy to be implemented.

[0031] With reference to the second aspect, in an embodiment, a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of CRC bits of the information is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

[0032] According to the embodiment above, the number of CRC bits can be allocated appropriately.

[0033] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, obtaining the N-l first ratios includes: obtaining H second ratios, where H*H=N; obtaining N first ratios based on the H second ratios, where the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

[0034] According to the embodiment above, positions of an increased number of segmented CRCs may be derived from a small number of ratios, so that the flexibility of segmentation is improved.

[0035] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

[0036] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, the N-l first ratios are arranged in ascending order, the last first ratio in the N-l first ratios is less than or equal to a third ratio, and the third ratio is a ratio of a length of the last segment in the N segments to the length of the information. This improves the reliability of CRC.

[0037] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, the N-l first ratios are related to a code rate.

[0038] According to the embodiment above, when a code rate is given, the first communication device can obtain the corresponding N-l first ratios which are more appropriate for the code rate.

[0039] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, a ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information increases as the code rate decreases. This improves the reliability of CRC.

[0040] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, a relationship between theratio of the length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;where R is the code rate, ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the information.

[0041] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length. Simulation results show that better performance can be obtained according to this embodiment.

[0042] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in the following table, where a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference:code rate1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 / 6 code length64 0.8-1 0.7-1 0.8-1 0.9-1 -128 0.34-0.93 0.29-0.57 0.25-0.51 0.51-0.58 0.66-0.68256 0.16-0.51 0.13-0.45 0.14-0.41 0.16-0.42 0.25-0.46512 0.1-0.39 0.09-0.37 0.09-0.35 0.09-0.36 0.11-0.381024 0.07-0.34 0.07-0.33 0.06-0.32 0.07-0.33 0.08-0.34

[0043]

[0044] Simulation results show that better performance can be obtained according to the embodiment above.

[0045] With reference to the second aspect, in another embodiment, a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i and w segments before thesegment i, where i=l, ... , N-l, and w is a positive integer; or a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i, wherein i=l, .. N-l.

[0046] Simulation results show that better FER performance can be obtained according to the embodiment above. And the implementation of CRC depending on current segment and one or more previous segments allows for FER performance improvement without degrading FAR performance.

[0047] According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus that is configured to implement the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments. Specifically, the apparatus may include units and / or modules, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit, for the execution of any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0048] In an embodiment of the third aspect, the apparatus is the first communication device or the second communication device. When the apparatus is the first communication device or the second communication device, the communication unit may be a transceiver, or an input / output interface, or a communication interface. The processing unit may be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver is a transmitting and receiving circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface is an input / output circuit.

[0049] In another embodiment of the third aspect, the apparatus is a chip, a system on a chip or a circuit in the first communication device or the second communication device. When the apparatus is a chip, a system on a chip or a circuit in the first communication device or the second communication device, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip, the system on a chip or the circuit. The processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

[0050] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, and the apparatus includes one or more processors, where the one or more processors are configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0051] In an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes the memory.

[0052] In an embodiment of the fourth aspect or any one of the embodiments of the fourthaspect, the apparatus is the first communication device or the second communication device.

[0053] In another embodiment of the fourth aspect or any one of the embodiments of the fourth aspect, the apparatus is a chip, a system on a chip or a circuit in the first communication device or the second communication device.

[0054] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, and the apparatus includes at least one processor and a communication interface, where the at least one processor is used to obtain a computer program or instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments. The communication interface can be implemented by hardware or software.

[0055] In an embodiment of the fifth aspect, the apparatus further includes the memory.

[0056] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a processor which is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0057] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable medium on which a program or instructions are recorded, where the program or the instructions, when executed, enable a computer to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0058] According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, where the computer program product includes instructions to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0059] According to a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, where the computer program, when executed, enables a computer to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments.

[0060] According to a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, where the chip includes at least one processor and a communication interface, where the at least one processor is used to obtain a computer program or instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned aspects or their embodiments. The communication interface can be implemented by hardware or software.

[0061] In an embodiment of the tenth aspect, the chip further includes the memory.

[0062] When the method provided in this application is executed by a chip, this application does not limit the number of chips for implementing the method. For example, the method may be executed by one chip, or the method may be executed by two or more chips. In addition, when the number of chips is two or more, there is no limitation on chip manufacturers, which can be the same manufacturer or different manufacturers.

[0063] According to an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes a communication apparatus used to perform the method according to the first aspect or its embodiments; and / or, a communication apparatus used to perform the method according to the second aspect or its embodiments.DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0064] One or more embodiments are exemplarily described by corresponding accompanying drawings, and these exemplary illustrations and accompanying drawings constitute no limitation on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are illustrated as similar elements, and the drawings are not limited to scale, in which:

[0065] Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a decoding process.

[0066] Figure 2 is a schematic representation of segmented CRC.

[0067] Figure 3 is another schematic representation of segmented CRC.

[0068] Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a 2ndsegmented CRC approach.

[0069] Figure 5 is a schematic representation of a partitioned SCL (PSCL) decoding method.

[0070] Figure 6 is a schematic representation of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of this application are applicable.

[0071] Figure 7 is a schematic representation of a communication method 700 provided by embodiments of this application.

[0072] Figure 8 is a schematic representation of a relationship among a ratio of a length of a first segment in N segments to a length of first information, a code rate and Eb / No.

[0073] Figure 9 is a schematic representation of CRC insertion position for each CRC configuration.

[0074] Figure 10 is another schematic representation of CRC insertion position for each CRC configuration.

[0075] Figure 11 is a schematic representation of CRC bits for one segment computed based on multiple previous information segments.

[0076] Figure 12 is a schematic representation of CRC bits for one segment computed based on only one previous information segment.

[0077] Figure 13 is a schematic representation of a comparison between single CRC of length 11 and segmented CRC with lengths 4 and 7.

[0078] Figure 14 is a schematic representation of a communication method 1400 provided by embodiments of this application.

[0079] Figure 15 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus provided by embodiments of this application.

[0080] Figure 16 is a schematic illustration of another apparatus provided by embodiments of this application.

[0081] Figure 17 is a schematic illustration of a chip system provided by embodiments of this application.DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0082] In order to understand features and technical contents of embodiments of the present application in detail, implementations of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the attached drawings are only for reference and illustration purposes, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present applications. In the following technical descriptions, for ease of explanation, numerous details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments.

[0083] Segmented CA-SCL decoding method is a possible method to reduce decoding complexity and improve decoding performance of the polar code. Segmented CRC is suitable for high noisy scenarios, such as those in 5th generation (5G) wireless communications, where large values of both list size and code length are essential for optimal performance. The segmented CA-SCL decoding method divides whole message bits vector into several segments and attaches CRC bits to each segment. The prior art solutions of the segmented CA-SCL decoding method arepresented below.

[0084] Solutions 1 : CRC positions and length optimization

[0085] It is possible to obtain complexity and memory reduction from early stopping of the decoding by optimizing CRC positions and reducing number of decoding paths. At each CRC operation, only valid paths (from a CRC perspective) survive so that a temporary list size is spontaneously reduced to one or just a few. The segmented CRC is depicted in detail in Figure 3. An optimization task for determination of information block segments lengths is given by k* = arg^min. C™9, where C™9= £(Z£+ Z£n£+ s£)where It is current list size, and st is comparisons. The optimization is based on many parameters.

[0086] Solutions 2: CRC at fixed positions

[0087] CRC detectors are not only employed at the end of the SCL decoding process, but also at other breaking points during the SCL decoding process. Schematic representation of 2ndsegmented CRC approach is shown in Figure 4. As can be seen from Figure 4, a CRC operation is carried out when half of the SCL decoding process is completed except a CRC operation in the last stage. With help of those CRC detectors at the other breaking points, invalid paths and unnecessary complexity can therefore be removed earlier. However, in Solution 2, CRC detectors are allocated in partitions of the tree, which means that CRC detectors are at fixed positions.

[0088] Solutions 3: partitioned SCL (PSCL) decoding method

[0089] Schematic representation of the PSCL decoding method is shown in Figure 5. While reducing a required memory and complexity of a SCL decoder to a certain extent, current PSCL decoding methods all have a certain impact on performance of the SCL decoder. The PSCL decoding method proposed by Hashemi et al. can improve performance under a same complexity. In Solution 3, to improve the performance of decoding, SCL decoding algorithm modifications are required.

[0090] From the above, it can be seen that existing segmented CA-SCL decoding methods need to optimize too many parameters, or can only CRC at a fixed position, or need to modify the SCL decoding algorithm.

[0091] Proper segmentation is beneficial to the decoding performance of a segmented CA-SCL decoder. Therefore, an effective segmentation scheme is urgently needed.

[0092] To solve the above problem, embodiments of the present application provide a methodand apparatus for communication, which can provide an effective segmentation scheme, thus improving the performance of polar codes. The method and apparatus for communication can be used to determine insertion positions of2 CRCs.

[0093] Before introducing the embodiments of the present application, communication systems to which the embodiments are applicable are described below.

[0094] The embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: 5th generation (5G) systems or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, etc. The embodiments of the present application can also be applied to future communication systems. The embodiments of the present application can also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication systems, and, long term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V) systems, long term evolve-machine (LTE-M) systems, machine to machine (M2M) communication systems, machine type communication (MTC) systems, internet of things (loT) communication systems, narrow band-internet of things (NB-IoT) systems or other communication systems. The embodiments of the present application can also be applied to satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communications systems, uncrewed aerial vehicles and other non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, for example, integrated communication and navigation (IcaN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and ultra-dense low-orbit satellite communication systems. In addition, it can also be extended to similar wireless communication systems, such as: wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless fidelity (WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX), and other communication systems related to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP).

[0095] One device in a communication system can transmit signals to another device or receive signals from another device. The signals can include information, signaling or data. The device can also be referred to as an entity, a network entity, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc.

[0096] For ease of understanding the embodiments of the present application, a communication system 1000 shown in Figure 6 is used as an example to describe in detail a communication system to which the embodiments of this application are applicable.

[0097] Referring to Figure 6, the communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. In one possible implementation, the communication system 1000 can further include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 may include at least one RAN device (110a and 110b in Figure 6) and at least one terminal device (120a-120j in Figure 6). The terminal device is connected wirelessly to the RAN device, and the RAN device is connected wirelessly or wiredly to the core network. The core network device and the RAN device can be separate physical devices, or functions of the core network device and logical functions of the RAN device can be integrated on a same physical device, or part of functions of the core network device and part of logical functions of the RAN device can be integrated on a same physical device. Terminal devices can be connected to each other wirelessly or wiredly. RAN devices can be connected to each other wirelessly or wiredly. It can be appreciated that Figure 6 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as relay devices or dedicated sensing nodes, which are not shown in Figure 6.

[0098] The terminal devices in the communication system 1000 can also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. The terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as D2D, V2X, MTC, loT, virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceivers, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, aircrafts, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc.

[0099] The RAN 100 can be a cellular system associated with the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), such as a 4G mobile communications system, a 5G mobile communications system, or a future-oriented evolution system. The RAN 100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), or a cloud RAN (CRAN). The RAN 100 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0100] The RAN devices, sometimes referred to as RAN nodes, RAN entities, or access nodes, are a part of a communications system that helps terminal devices achieve radio access. Multiple RAN devices in the communication system 1000 can be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types.

[0101] In one possible scenario, a RAN device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB(eNodeB), an access point (AP), a TRP, a next generation NodeB (gNB), or a base station in a future mobile communication system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (110a in Figure 6), a microbase or indoor station (110b in Figure 6), a relay or donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. For example, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the RAN node in V2X scenario can be a road side unit (RSU).

[0102] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN devices cooperate to assist terminal devices to achieve radio access, and different RAN devices implement some of functions of a base station. For example, the RAN device can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP-U), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be configured separately or included in a same network element (NE) (e.g. a baseband unit (BBU)). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio frequency unit (RFU), an active antenna unit (AAU), a radio frequency unit (RFU) or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0103] The CU, the DU, or the RU may have different names in different systems. For example, in an ORAN system, the CU can also be called open CU (open-CU or O-CU), the DU can also be called open DU (open-DU or 0-DU), and the RU can also be called open RU (open-RU or O-RU). Any one of the CU, the DU and the RU can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

[0104] RAN devices and terminal devices can be fixed or movable. RAN devices and terminal devices can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle -mounted devices. RAN devices and terminal devices can also be deployed on water. RAN devices and terminal devices can also be deployed on an aircraft, a balloon or a satellite.

[0105] Roles of a RAN device and a terminal device can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 6 can be configured as a mobile base station, and the terminal device 120i is the RAN device for the terminal device 120j that accesses the RAN 100 through 120i. However, for the RAN device 110a, 120i is the terminal device, that is, the communication between 110a and 120i is through an air interface protocol.

[0106] Unless otherwise specified, the RAN device or the terminal device may refer to the RAN device or the terminal device itself or an apparatus that supports the function of the RANdevice or the terminal device. The apparatus can be an integrated circuit, which in some contexts may be known by other colloquial names, such as chip, modem, modem chip, baseband chip, or baseband processor. In some implementations, one or more integrated circuits can be packaged into a system-on-chip, a system-in-package, or a multi-chip module. The apparatus can be installed in the RAN device or in the terminal device. The apparatus may include one or more integrated circuits or include one or more integrated circuits and other discrete components.

[0107] It should be understood that the communication system shown above is only an illustrative illustration. The communication systems to which the embodiments of this application are applied are not limited herein. Any communication system that is capable of realizing the functions of the above NEs is applicable to the embodiments of this application.

[0108] The embodiments of this application are described below.

[0109] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 700 provided by the embodiments of this application. Method 700 can be performed by a first communication device, which is a device at encoding side. For example, the first communication device may be an encoding device, a module in the encoding device, or a logical node, a logic module, or software that implements all or part of functions of the encoding device. The module in the encoding device can be, for example, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system (such as a modem chip, or an SoC chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.). The encoding device can be a terminal device or a network device.

[0110] The method 700 specifically includes the following steps.

[0111] At Step 701, the first communication device obtains first information to be encoded.

[0112] If the first communication device needs to communicate with other device(s) (such as a second communication device), in other words, the first communication device needs to send signals to the other device(s), the first communication device will first obtain the first information to be encoded that corresponds to the signals.

[0113] The embodiments of this application do not limit the way in which the first communication device obtains the first information. In an embodiment, the first communication device can obtain the first information generated by encoding information source symbols. In another embodiment, the first communication device can obtain the first information by receiving the first information from other communication device.

[0114] At Step 702, the first communication device obtains N-l first ratios.

[0115] A sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1. N is a number of segments. N is an integer greater than 1. For example, N is 2, 3, 4, etc.

[0116] The embodiments of this application do not limit the way in which the first communication device obtains the N-l first ratios.

[0117] In an embodiment, the N-l first ratios are precomputed or preconfigured in the first communication device. For example, the first communication device is pre-configured with a plurality of sets of N ratios, and each set of N ratios corresponds to one code rate or one code length. In this case, the first communication device can select the corresponding N-l first ratios from the plurality of sets of N ratios based on a current code rate or a current code length.

[0118] In another embodiment, the first communication device can obtain H second ratios and obtain N first ratios based on the H second ratios, where H*H=N and the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios. Each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio. In this case, the first communication device is pre-configured with X ratios or X-l ratios for a X-segmented CRCs, and ratios for CRCs with more segments can be obtained based on the X ratios or the X-l ratios, where X is an integer greater than 1. In other words, positions of an increased number of segmented CRCs may be derived from X-segmented CRCs given rates of X sub-codes. For example, the first communication device is pre-configured with two ratios or one ratio for a 2-segmented CRCs, and ratios for N-segmented CRCs can be obtained based on the two ratios or the ratio, where N is a power of 2, such as N=4, 8, or 16. For another example, the first communication device is pre-configured with three ratios or two ratios for a 3-segmented CRCs, and ratios for N-segmented CRCs can be obtained based on the three ratios or the two ratios, where N is a power of 3, such as N=9, 27, or 81.

[0119] Embodiments of this application do not limit the way in which the first communication device obtains the N first ratios based on the H second ratios. In an embodiment, each second ratio is divided into H first ratios based on the H second ratios. For example, every H first ratios in the N first ratios are obtained by multiplying the H second ratios with one second ratio in the H second ratios.

[0120] Embodiments of this application do not limit values of the H second ratios.

[0121] In an embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

[0122] For example, sub-code rates are given as rl = 0.1 and r2 = 0.9, a precomputed message ratio for a 2-segmented CRCs is given as 0.1, in other words, the N-l first ratios for the 2-segmented CRCs is 0.1. In this case, the N first ratios for the 2-segmented CRCs are 0.1 and 0.9, in other words, the H second ratios for a 4-segmented CRCs are 0.1 and 0.9. Based on second ratios 0.1 and 0.9, the N first ratios for the 4-segmented CRCs are 0.10.1=0.01, 0.1x0.9=0.09, 0.9x0.1=0.09 and 0.9x0.9=0.81. The N-l first ratios are any three ratios in 0.01, 0.09, 0.09 and 0.81. A sum of first ratio=0.01 and first ratio=0.09 equals rl and a sum of first ratio=0.09 and first rati o=0.81 equals r2. A ratio of first ratio=0.01 to second ratio=0.1 is 0.1, a ratio of first ratio=0.09 to second ratio=0.1 is 0.9, a ratio of first ratio=0.09 to second ratio=0.9 is 0.1 and a ratio of first rati o=0.81 to second ratio=0.9 is 0.9, that is, ratios of the H=2 first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H=2 second ratios.

[0123] In another embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are different with the H second ratios. For example, sub-code rates are given as rl = 0.2 and r2 = 0.8, a precomputed message ratio for a 2-segmented CRCs is given as 0.1. In this case, the N first ratios for the 2-segmented CRCs are 0.2 and 0.8, in other words, the H second ratios for a 4-segmented CRCs are 0.2 and 0.8. Based on the H second ratios and the precomputed message ratio 0.1, the N first ratios for the 4-segmented CRCs are 0.2x0.1=0.02, 0.8x0.1=0.08, 0.2x0.9=0.18 and 0.8x0.9=0.72. The N-l first ratios are any three ratios in 0.02, 0.08, 0.18 and 0.72. A sum of first ratio=0.02 and first ratio=0.18 equals rl and a sum of first ratio=0.18 and first ratio=0.72 equals r2. A ratio of first ratio=0.02 to second ratio=0.2 is 0.1, a ratio of first ratio=0.18 to second ratio=0.1 is 0.9, a ratio of first ratio=0.08 to second ratio=0.8 is 0.1 and a ratio of first ratio=0.72 to second rati o=0.8 is 0.9, that is, ratios of the H=2 first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are different with the H=2 second ratios.

[0124] In embodiments of this application, the N-l first ratios can be arranged in ascending order, the last first ratio in the N-l first ratios is less than or equal to a third ratio, and the third ratio is a ratio of a length of the last segment in the N segments to the length of the first information. In other words, the N first ratios are arranged in ascending order. For example, the N first ratios include 0.01, 0.09, 0.81 and 0.09 mentioned above, the N first ratios are arranged in ascendingorder as 0.01, 0.09, 0.09 and 0.81, and the N-l first ratios can be 0.01, 0.09 and 0.09 or the N-l first ratios can be 0.09, 0.09 and 0.81. For another example, the N first ratios include 0.02, 0.18, 0.08 and 0.72 mentioned above, the N first ratios are arranged in ascending order as 0.02, 0.08, 0.18 and 0.72, and the N-l first ratios can be 0.02, 0.08 and 0.18 or the N-l first ratios can be 0.08, 0.18 and 0.72.

[0125] At Step 703, the first communication device segments the first information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios.

[0126] In other words, the first communication device determines N positions for CRC insertion based on the N-l first ratios.

[0127] N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios. In other words, a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the first information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios. In an example of a 2-segmented CRCs, the first communication device segments the first information into 2 segments. Assuming the first ratio is 0.1 and 0.1 corresponds to the first segment in the 2 segments, a ratio of a length of the first segment in the 2 segments to a length of the first information is 0.1. The remaining parts of the first information forms the second segment in the 2 segments. A ratio of a length of the second segment in the 2 segments to a length of the first information is 0.9.

[0128] In an embodiment, the first communication device can perform the segmentation of the first information into N segments according to a reliability sequence (such as polarization weights (PW) sequence) which can be transformed to a sequence in probability domain.

[0129] It is observed by simulations that a segmented CRC has a region with a lower FER compared to non-segmented CRC (also referred as single CRC). Figure 8 shows a relationship among a ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to a length of the first information, a code rate and a ratio of bit energy to noise power spectral density (Eb / No), where k is a length of the first segment in the N segments, k is a length of the first information, and R is code rate. Simulation results in Figure 8 are simulation results under a condition that N=2, polar code under polarization weights (PW) construction, FER=10'2, the code length n=256 and the information length k=128. In Figure 8, Curve 1, Curve 3 and Curve 5 are curves of BLER for single CRC11. Curve 2 is a curve of BLER for segmented CRC4 and CRC7 with R=3 / 4. Curve 4 is a curve of BLER for segmented CRC4 and CRC7 with R=l / 2. Curve 6 is a curve of BLER for segmentedCRC4 and CRC7 with R=l / 4.

[0130] In an example of a 2-segmented CRCs, Figure 9 and Figure 10 show CRC insertion position (also referred as segmentation point) for each CRC configuration. In Figure 9, the horizontal axis is the number of information bits in the first segment and the vertical axis is FER, and curves in Figure 9 are under a condition that N=2, the code length n=128, the information length k=64, the list size L=8 and Eb / No=2.OO, where the list size is a parameter of the SCL decoder. As is shown in Figure 9, the N-l=l first ratio for a 2-segmented CRC with crclLi=4 and crcL2=7 is 0.19, and the N-l=l first ratio for a 2-segmented CRC with crclLi=7 and crcL2=4 is 0.21. In Figure 10, the horizontal axis is ki / k and the vertical axis is Eb / No, and curves in Figure 10 are under a condition that N=2, polar code under polarization weights (PW) construction, FER=10'2, the code length n=256 and the information length k=128. As is shown in Figure 10, when R=3 / 4, fci / fc=0.17, whenR=l / 2, fci / fc=0.31, and when R=l / 4, ki / k=Q.31.

[0131] In embodiments of this application, the N-l first ratios can be related to a code rate, in other words, N positions for CRC insertion can be related to a code rate. For example, a fourth ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the first information increases as the code rate decreases, in other words, the first CRC insertion position moves backward as R decreases.

[0132] Embodiments of this application propose upper bounds on ki / k, where ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the first information, ki / k can represent the length of the first segment in the N segments. In an example of a 2-segmented CRCs, a relationship between the fourth ratio and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;where R is the code rate, ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the first information.

[0133] In embodiments of this application, “segment” is also referred as “block”, “information segment” or “information block”.

[0134] At Step 704, the first communication device adds CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively to obtain second information.

[0135] Embodiments of this application do not limit the way in which the first communication device allocates a total number of CRC bits for the N segments. In an embodiment, the first communication device adds CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively based on the N-l first ratios, where a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of added CRC bits is the first ratio corresponding to the segment. In an example of a 2-segmented CRCs, the first communication device segments the first information into 2 segments and adds CRC bits for each of the 2 segments. Assuming the first ratio is 0.1 and 0.1 corresponds to the first segment in the 2 segments, a ratio of a number of CRC bits of the first segment in the 2 segments to the total number of CRC bits is 0.1. In another embodiment, the first communication device can perform the addition of CRC bits for each of the N segments according to a reliability sequence (such as PW sequence) which can be transformed to a sequence in probability domain.

[0136] Embodiments of this application do not limit the way in which the first communication device obtains CRC bits for each of the N segments.

[0137] In an embodiment, as is shown in Figure 11, CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, where i=l, ..., N-l, and w is a positive integer. In other words, CRC bits for one segment may be computed based on a current segment and one or more previous segments. This implementation allows for FER performance improvement without degrading FAR performance.

[0138] In another embodiment, as is shown in Figure 12, CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i, where i=l, ..., N-l. In other words, CRC bits for one segment may be computed based on only the current segment.

[0139] Considering n=256, k=160 and the total CRC length is fixed to 11, Figure 13 shows a comparison among single CRC of length 11, segmented CRC with lengths 4 and 7 and segmented CRC* with lengths 4 and 7, where CRC bits for one segment may be computed based on a current segment and one or more previous segments. It may be observed that the FER performance of the segmented CRC and the segmented CRC* is improved slightly.

[0140] In embodiments of this application, a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rateand / or a code length. For example, Table 1 shows a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length. In Table 1, a larger value means a greater degree of difference, and a CRC configuration with 1stCRC of length less than 16 and 2ndCRC of length less than 24 is considered.Table 1code rate1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 / 6 code length64 0.8-1 0.7-1 0.8-1 0.9-1 -128 0.34-0.93 0.29-0.57 0.25-0.51 0.51-0.58 0.66-0.68256 0.16-0.51 0.13-0.45 0.14-0.41 0.16-0.42 0.25-0.46512 0.1-0.39 0.09-0.37 0.09-0.35 0.09-0.36 0.11-0.381024 0.07-0.34 0.07-0.33 0.06-0.32 0.07-0.33 0.08-0.34

[0141] At Step 705, encoding the second information using a polar code.

[0142] Embodiments of this application do not limit the implementation of polar encoding, which may be either an existing polar encoding method or a polar encoding method that may become available in the future.

[0143] At Step 706, outputting the encoded second information.

[0144] In the method 700, the first communication device can segment the first information to be encoded into N segments according to N-l first ratios, thus the method 700 is applicable to any polar code construction that is based on a reliability sequence and CRC insertion positions are more flexible. In addition, since the optimization for the N-l first ratios requires only a small number of parameters (such as code length, information length, reliability sequence, and number of segments), the method 700 is easy to be implemented.

[0145] Embodiments at encoding side are described above, and embodiments at decoding side are described below.

[0146] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 1400 provided by the embodiments of this application. Method 1400 can be performed by a second communication device, which is a device at decoding side. For example, the second communication device maybe a decoding device, a module in a decoding device, or a logical node, a logic module, or software that implements all or part of functions of the decoding device. The module in the decoding device can be, for example, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system (such as a modem chip, or an SoC chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.). The decoding device can be a terminal device or a network device.

[0147] The method 1400 specifically includes the following steps.

[0148] At Step 1401, the second communication device obtains information to be decoded.

[0149] In an embodiment, the information to be decoded is a symbol sequence.

[0150] In another embodiment, the information to be decoded can also be information obtained from the symbol sequence, in other words, the second communication device can process the received symbol sequence to obtain the information to be decoded. For example, the information to be decoded can be information obtained by demodulating of the symbol sequence. For another example, the information to be decoded can be information obtained by demodulating and distribution matching of the symbol sequence.

[0151] At Step 1402, the second communication device obtains N-l first ratios.

[0152] A sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1. N is a number of segments. N is an integer greater than 1. For example, N is 2, 3, 4, etc. The implementation of Step 1402 can refer to Step 702, which is not detailed here.

[0153] At Step 1403, the second communication device segments the information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios.

[0154] In other words, the second communication device determines N positions for CRC insertion based on the N-l first ratios.

[0155] N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios. In other words, a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the first information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios. The implementation of Step 1403 can refer to Step 703, which is not detailed here.

[0156] At Step 1404, the second communication device performs a CRC operation after decoding each of the N segments using a polar code.

[0157] In the method 1400, the second communication device can segment the information to be decoded into N segments according to N-l first ratios, thus the method 1400 is applicable toany polar code construction that is based on a reliability sequence and CRC insertion positions are more flexible. In addition, since the optimization for the N-l first ratios requires only a small number of parameters (such as code length, information length, reliability sequence, and number of segments), the method 1400 is easy to be implemented.

[0158] It should be noted that the above embodiments of this application may be implemented independently or together in an appropriate way.

[0159] The method provided in this application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 1 to 14. The apparatus embodiments of this application will be described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 15 to 17.

[0160] It is understood that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the apparatus in Figure 15 to Figure 17 may include the corresponding hardware architecture and / or software modules that perform each of the functions. The apparatus may be used to implement the functions of the first communication device or the second communication device of the method embodiments described above, and thus the apparatus is able to achieve the beneficial effects of the method embodiments described above.

[0161] Figure 15 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus provided by embodiments of this application.

[0162] As shown in Figure 15, an apparatus 10 includes a communication unit 11 and a processing unit 12. Optionally, the apparatus 10 further includes a storage unit 13 for storing instructions and / or data.

[0163] When the apparatus 10 is used to implement the functions of the first communication device in the method embodiments described above, the communication unit 11 is used for performing the sending and receiving steps in the method embodiments, and the processing unit 12 is used for performing the processing steps in the method embodiments.

[0164] Specifically, the communication unit 11 or the processing unit 12 is configured to: obtain first information to be encoded; obtainingN-1 first ratios, where asum oftheN-1 first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1. The processing unit 12 is further configured to: segment the first information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, where N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the first information is a first ratio correspondingto the segment in the N-l first ratios; add CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively to obtain second information; encode the second information using a polar code; and output the encoded second information.

[0165] In an embodiment, the processing unit 12 is specifically configured to: add the CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively based on the N-l first ratios, where a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of added CRC bits is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

[0166] In an embodiment, the processing unit 12 is specifically configured to: obtain H second ratios, where H*H=N; and obtain N first ratios based on the H second ratios, where the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

[0167] In an embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

[0168] In an embodiment, the N-l first ratios are arranged in ascending order, the last first ratio in the N-l first ratios is less than or equal to a third ratio, and the third ratio is a ratio of a length of the last segment in the N segments to the length of the first information.

[0169] In an embodiment, the N-l first ratios are related to a code rate.

[0170] In an embodiment, a fourth ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the first information increases as the code rate decreases.

[0171] In an embodiment, a relationship between the fourth ratio and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of kl / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;where R is the code rate, kl is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the first information.

[0172] In an embodiment, a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length.

[0173] In an embodiment, a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in Table 1, where a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference.

[0174] In an embodiment, CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, where i=l, ... , N-l, and w is a positive integer; or CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i, where i= 1 , ... , N-l.

[0175] When the apparatus 10 is used to implement the functions of the second communication device in the method embodiments described above, the communication unit 11 is used for performing the sending and receiving steps in the method embodiments, and the processing unit 12 is used for performing the processing steps in the method embodiments.

[0176] Specifically, the communication unit 11 or the processing unit 12 is configured to: obtain information to be decoded. The processing unit 12 is configured to: obtain N-l first ratios, where a sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1; segment the information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, where N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios; and perform a CRC operation after decoding each of the N segments using a polar code.

[0177] In an embodiment, a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of CRC bits of the information is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

[0178] In an embodiment, the processing unit 12 is specifically configured to: obtain H second ratios, where H*H=N; and obtain N first ratios based on the H second ratios, where the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

[0179] In an embodiment, ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

[0180] In an embodiment, the N-l first ratios are arranged in ascending order, the last first ratio in the N-l first ratios is less than or equal to a third ratio, and the third ratio is a ratio of alength of the last segment in the N segments to the length of the information.

[0181] In an embodiment, the N-l first ratios are related to a code rate.

[0182] In an embodiment, a ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information increases as the code rate decreases.

[0183] In an embodiment, a relationship between the ratio of the length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;where R is the code rate, ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the information.

[0184] In an embodiment, a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length.

[0185] In an embodiment, a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in Table 1, where a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference.

[0186] In an embodiment, a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, where i=l, ..., N-l, and w is a positive integer; or a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i, wherein i=l, ..., N-l.

[0187] More detailed descriptions of the communication unit 11 and the processing unit 12 may refer to the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments described above, and not be repeated here.

[0188] Figure 16 is a schematic illustration of another apparatus provided by embodiments of this application.

[0189] As shown in Figure 16, an apparatus 20 may include a processor 21. The processor 21 is coupled to a memory 23 which is used to store instructions. While the apparatus 20 is used to implement the method described above, the processor 21 is used to execute the instructions in thememory 23 to implement the functions of the processing unit 12 described above.

[0190] Optionally, the apparatus 20 further includes the memory 23.

[0191] Optionally, the apparatus 20 further includes an interface circuit 22. The processor 21 is coupled to the interface circuit 22. Understandably, the interface circuit 22 may be a transceiver or an I / O interface. When the apparatus 20 is used to implement the method described above, the processor 21 is used to execute the instructions to implement the functions of the processing unit 12 and the interface circuit 22 is used to implement the functions of the communication unit 11.

[0192] Illustratively, when the apparatus 20 is a chip applied in the first communication device or the second communication device, the chip implements the function of the first communication device or the second communication device. The chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the first communication device or the second communication device, and the information is sent to the first communication device or the second communication device by another device. Optionally, the chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the first communication device or the second communication device, and the information is sent to another device.

[0193] Figure 17 is a schematic illustration of a chip system provided by embodiments of this application.

[0194] As shown in Figure 17, the chip system 30 (alternatively, the processing system) includes a logic circuit 31 and an input / output interface 32.

[0195] The logic circuit 31 can be the processing circuit in the chip system 30. The logic circuit 31 can be coupled to a storage unit and call instructions in the storage unit, so that the chip system 30 can realize the methods and functions of each embodiment of the application.

[0196] The input / output interface 32 can be the input and output circuit in the chip system 30 to output the information processed by the chip system 30, or to input the data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 30 for processing.

[0197] As a scheme, the chip system 30 is used to implement the operations performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the method embodiments above.

[0198] For example, a logic circuit 31 is used to implement the process-related operations performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the methodembodiments above. The input / output interface 32 is used to implement the transmit and / or receive related operations performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the method embodiments above.

[0199] The embodiments of the application also provide an apparatus for communication, which includes one or more processors, where the one or more processors are configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0200] The embodiments of the application also provide a processor which is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0201] The embodiments of the application also provide a computer-readable medium on which a program or instructions are recorded, where the program or the instructions, when executed, enable a computer to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0202] The embodiments of the application also provide a computer program product, where the computer program product includes instructions to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0203] The embodiments of the application also provide a computer program, where the computer program, when executed, enables a computer to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0204] The embodiments of the application also provide a chip, where the chip includes at least one processor and a communication interface, where the at least one processor is used to obtain a computer program or instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface to implement any of the methods provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0205] The embodiments of the application also provide a communication system, where the communication system includes the first communication device or the second communication device mentioned above.

[0206] In the embodiments of this application, “and / or” describes an association relationship between associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists.The character “ / ” generally indicates an “or” relationship between the associated objects. “Multiple A” means two or more A. “At least one” means one or more. “At least one of A or B”, similar to “A and / or B”, describes an association relationship between associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, at least one of A or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists.

[0207] Besides, the use of a singular form of “a”, “an” and “the” in the embodiments of the present application and the claims appended hereto is also intended to include a plural form, unless otherwise clearly indicated herein by context.

[0208] A person of ordinary skill in the art will be aware that, in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this specification, units and algorithm steps may be implemented by using electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are performed by using hardware or software depends on particular applications and design constraint conditions of the technical solutions. A person skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but it should not be considered that the embodiment goes beyond the scope of this application.

[0209] It would be understood by a person skilled in the art that, for the purpose of convenience and brevity, in a detailed working process of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, reference may be made to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

[0210] In the several embodiments provided in this application, the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merely an example. For example, the unit division is a logical function division and other methods of division may be used in an actual embodiment. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented using various communication interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0211] In addition, function units in the embodiments of this application may be integratedinto one processing unit, each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0212] When the functions are implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The technical solutions of this application may be implemented in the form of a software product. The software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of this application. The foregoing storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disc or the like.

[0213] The units described as separate parts may be or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may be or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of this application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

[0214] The foregoing descriptions are merely specific embodiments of this application, but are not intended to limit the protection scope of this application. Any variation or replacement readily figured out by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application shall fall within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for communication, comprising:obtaining first information to be encoded;obtaining N-l first ratios, wherein a sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1 ;segmenting the first information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, wherein N-1 segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the first information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios;adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits for each of the N segments respectively to obtain second information;encoding the second information using a polar code; andoutputting the encoded second information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein adding the CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively comprises:adding the CRC bits for each of the N segments respectively based on the N-l first ratios, wherein a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of added CRC bits is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein obtaining the N-l first ratios comprises: obtaining H second ratios, wherein H*H=N; andobtaining N first ratios based on the H second ratios, wherein the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the N-l first ratios are related to a code rate.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a fourth ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the first information increases as the code rate decreases.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein a relationship between the fourth ratio and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;wherein R is the code rate, ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the first information.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in the following table, wherein a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference:code rate1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 / 6 code length64 0.8-1 0.7-1 0.8-1 0.9-1 -128 0.34-0.93 0.29-0.57 0.25-0.51 0.51-0.58 0.66-0.68256 0.16-0.51 0.13-0.45 0.14-0.41 0.16-0.42 0.25-0.46512 0.1-0.39 0.09-0.37 0.09-0.35 0.09-0.36 0.11-0.381024 0.07-0.34 0.07-0.33 0.06-0.32 0.07-0.33 0.08-0.3410. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein CRC bits for segment i in the N segments are calculated based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, wherein i=l, ..., N-l, and w is a positive integer; or CRC bits for segment i in the N segmentsare calculated based on the segment i, wherein i=l, .. N-l.

11. A method for communication, comprising:obtaining information to be decoded;obtaining N-l first ratios, wherein a sum of the N-l first ratios is less than 1, and N is an integer greater than 1 ;segmenting the information into N segments based on the N-l first ratios, wherein N-l segments in the N segments are in one-to-one correspondence with the N-l first ratios, and a ratio of a length of one segment in the N-l segments to a length of the information is a first ratio corresponding to the segment in the N-l first ratios; andperforming a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) operation after decoding each of the N segments using a polar code.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein a ratio of a number of CRC bits of one segment in the N-l segments to a total number of CRC bits of the information is the first ratio corresponding to the segment.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein obtaining N-l first ratios comprises: obtaining H second ratios, wherein H*H=N; andobtaining N first ratios based on the H second ratios, wherein the N-l first ratios are contained in the N first ratios, each of the H second ratios corresponds to H first ratios in the N first ratios, and a sum of the H first ratios corresponding to a same second ratio is equal to the corresponding second ratio.

14. The method according to claim 14, wherein ratios of the H first ratios to the corresponding second ratio are the same with the H second ratios.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the N-l first ratios are related to a code rate.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein a ratio of a length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information increases as the code rate decreases.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein a relationship between the ratio of the length of the first segment in the N segments to the length of the information and the code rate is as follows:with R = 0.15, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.25, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.3-0.4;with R = 0.5, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.25-0.3;with R = 0.75, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.15-0.2;with R = 0.8, a fraction of ki / k ranges between 0.1-0.15;wherein R is the code rate, ki is a length of the first segment in the N segments, and k is a length of the information.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein a degree of difference between reliability of the first segment with CRC and reliability of the first segment without CRC is related to a code rate and / or a code length.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein a relationship among the degree of difference, the code rate and the code length is shown in the following table, wherein a larger value in the table indicates a greater degree of difference:code rate1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 / 6 code length64 0.8-1 0.7-1 0.8-1 0.9-1 -128 0.34-0.93 0.29-0.57 0.25-0.51 0.51-0.58 0.66-0.68256 0.16-0.51 0.13-0.45 0.14-0.41 0.16-0.42 0.25-0.46512 0.1-0.39 0.09-0.37 0.09-0.35 0.09-0.36 0.11-0.381024 0.07-0.34 0.07-0.33 0.06-0.32 0.07-0.33 0.08-0.3420. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 19, wherein a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i and w segments before the segment i, wherein i=l, ..., N-l, and w is a positive integer; or a CRC operation for segment i in the N segments is performed based on the segment i, wherein i= 1 , ... , N-l .

21. An apparatus comprising a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising a memory for storing processor-executable instructions, and / or, an interface configured to input and / or outputinformation.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the apparatus is a communication device, an integrated circuit, a system-on-chip, a system-in-package, or a multi-chip module.

24. A communication system, comprising:a first communication device used to perform the method according to any one of claims I to 10; anda second communication device used to perform the method according to any one of claims II to 20.

25. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a computer, the computer performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

26. A computer program comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a computer, the computer performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

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